University of Houston student researchers chase eclipse

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Students from the University of Houston are heading to Nebraska to do research during the eclipse.

"When we leave here its go time," said Bryan Gunawan, acting project director for the UH's Undergrad Student Instrumentation Project within the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics and Cullen College of Engineering.

Three or four students will be driving to Nebraska on Sunday. The 12-hour trip will be to conduct experiments with a Very Low Frequency radio receiver, which will be floated up by helium-filled balloons 90,000 feet into the ionosphere during the eclipse. The instrumentation on board will take readings and detect interference in radio communication due to changes in the ionosphere caused by the sudden lack of, then return of, sunlight.

"When the solar eclipse comes, the waves should change somehow. We get a more complete picture of how solar radiation effects the earth," said UH student researcher Samar Mathur.